Bachelor – an unmarried man; L. baccalaria – a heard of cows; L. Baccalarius – a youth who attended the cows.

Beefeater – Yeoman of the Guard of the Tower of London.

MdE Eater – servant; the highest class of servants, who ate beef.

Bible –   L. “biblia” a diminutive of “biblos” ( the inner bark of papyrus).

Originally meant any book made of papyrus, paper.

Blackmail – originally a tribute paid by Border farmers to free-booter in return of protection.

Bread – originally a fragment or a small piece.

Bribery – lumps of bread given to beggars.

Budget – Fr. bouge (a sack full of money); bougette – the diminutive of “bouge”.

Butler – originally a man in charge of wine

Cabinet – the executive council of a government. It. Cabinetto – “ a little

room” (Kings taking their visitors into their private room)

Camp – L. “exercising ground for the army”, campus.

Candidate – candidus (white); Romans seeking high office in the state were

dressed in white togas.

Canteen – It. Cantina – a wine cellar.

Chap – chap-man, one who sells gold in a cheap market.

Corn – originally meant “grain”.

Country – L. contrata, “the opposite”.

Deer – OE deor – originally any kind of wild beast.

Citizen – the inhabitant of the city, later – person who has rights in a state.

Dairy – AS daege, MdE dey – a maidservant.

Dairy – the place where she carried out her work.

  Daizy – “day’s eye” – the flower folds up in the morning and re-opens at the dawn of the day.

Economy – GK oikos (a house) + nomos (a law); originally the relation to home expenditure and income.

Fee – A-S feoh (cattle). Cf L. pecunia (money) derived from pecus (cattle); “capital is derived from “capita” (head of cattle).

Foreigner – MdE “living out of doors”.

Fool – L. follis (a wind-bag) with the plural “folles” (puffed-out cheeks).

Fond – OE “foolish”

Good-bye – a contraction of “God be with you”; the French say “adieu” (a Dieu – I commend you to God).

Glad – OE “bright”, “shining”.

Girl – originally a child of either sex (gyrel – a long dress).

Gossip – sib or gesip – A S kinsman; originally god-sip, related to one of the service of God, such as a sponsor in baptism. The present use of the word “gossip” arose probably from the practice of god-parents meeting together to have a chat.

Hospital – a place to receive guests or travellers.

Husband – AS hus ( a house) + bondi was Norse for a freeholder or yeoman. A husband was a house-holder from his position as head of the household.

Idiot – GK idios – “private”, “one’s own”, GK i d i o t e s signifying a man in private life, as distinguished from one holding an official position with a higher intellect and education. Now – a person who is weak in mind or deficient in common sense.

Journal – Fr. “daily”, later – any periodical.

Kidnap – kid is slang for “child” ( a kid is a young goat); and nap (nab) is slang for “steal”.

King – AS cyn (people, nation).The suffix –ing meant “of”, in the sense of

“son of”. Cyning – son of the nation or of the people.

Knave – AS knave (boy), German Knabe – a boy in someone’s employ. Cf. Knight – a man servant (German Knecht). Knight has become an honour,

knave – a dishonour.

Lady - the bread-kneader. AS hlaef-dize, lae-dize (hl f – a loaf of bread, dize -  to knead)

Marshal – OE maresceale , a servant in charge of horses.

Meat - edible flesh of killed animals.

Minister – L. “a servant”, “an attender”.

Daughter - Skr – a milker.

Son – Skr “Sunu” – derived from “su” – to beget.

Pipe - originally a musical instrument.

Poison - L. Potio (any drink).

Queen – AS cwen (a woman). In OE cwen was an ordinary term for a wife and also applied to the wife of a king or important personage.

Persona - L. the mask used by an actor.

Quick – AS “living”, not dead. Cf. R. живой.

Ready - originally “prepared for a ride”.

Rival – L. Rivalis (living on the opposite bank of the river; rivus – a stream).The antagonism of such dealers over their fishing rights led to the word being used with disputes of all kinds. 

Sad – in the original meaning it represented firmness, settled steadiness, material heaviness, resoluteness.

Scene – GK “a tent or covered place”, ME – stage.

Snob - W. Thackeray has coined it from the entry against the names of “commoners” in the lists of colleges – “S. nob” (which stood for sine nobilitate – “not of noble blood”). In Cambridge, snob is still a college word for a townsman as distinct from gownsman ( a member of the University).

Soldier – from Latin solidus (“ a piece of money”). The Roman soldier was a hireling, or mercenary, engaged with money to fight.

Spinster – originally one who span. No woman in AS period was fitted to wife until she had spun for herself her body, table and bed linen. The task of spinning was delegated to the unmarried woman of the house who were spinners or spinsters.

Starve - AS steorfan – to die.

Steward – AS stigweard (stigo –“a sty” and weard “a ward”). It dates back to the days when most of England was forest, and the chief wealth of the Saxon landowner was pigs. A man who drove the pigs home and kept watch and ward over them was a stigweard.

Style – L. A pointed stick used for writing.

Teach – originally “to show”.

Tide – originally meant “time”.

Villain – in feudal days a serf attached to the villa of his lord. In earlier days due to the arrogance persisted between feudal lords and their servants a villain became a through- paced scoundrel.

Wife – originally any female, now – a married woman.

Window – AS vindauga (vindre – “wind”, auga – “eye”). In AS days before the introduction of glass windows were opening in a wall and were uncovered except for shutters or curtains.They also served the purpose of giving air to the room.

 

 

ETYMOLOGICAL DOUBLETS

Shirt (native) – skirt (Sc)

Senior (Lat.) – sir (Fr.)

Canal (Lat.) – channel (Fr.)

Captain (Lat.) – chieftan (Fr.)

Corpse (Norm.Fr.) – corps (Par. Fr.)

Travel (Norm.Fr.) – travail (Par. Fr.)

Cavalry (Norm. Fr.) – chivalry (Par. Fr.)

Gaol (Norm.Fr.) – jail (Par. Fr.)

History – story

Fanatic – fan

Fancy -fantasy

Defence – fence

Courtesy - curtsy

Shadow - shade

 

ETYMOLOGICAL TRIPLETS

Hospital (Lat.) – hostel (Norm. Fr.) - - hotel (Par. Fr.)

Capture (Lat.) – catch (Norm. Fr.) – chase (Par. Fr.)